Bulldogs win SEC's wild West
By By Jeff Byrd / sports editor
March 9, 2003
STARKVILLE The Best in the West belongs to Mississippi State.
Playing nearly flawlessly on both ends, the Bulldogs bashed visiting Auburn 67-45 before 9,733 raucous fans at The Hump on Saturday afternoon.
The win gives Mississippi State the Southeastern Conference's Western Division title and the West's No. 1 seed in next week's SEC Tournament in New Orleans.
State, which won the division with a so-so 9-7 record, will face the Tennessee-Ole Miss winner on Friday at noon at the Louisiana Superdome.
The 23rd-ranked Bulldogs' overall record is now a prettier 19-8, and Coach Rick Stansbury's team is virtually assured a NCAA Tournament berth because of its strong RPI rating.
Auburn ends its SEC season play at 8-8 and is 19-10 overall.
Stansbury was quick to praise his Bulldogs for their perseverance through a roller-coaster conference slate.
With the Bulldogs celebrating Senior Day for point guard Derrick Zimmerman and forward Michal Ignerski, Stansbury felt his team would be ready. When
Zimmerman hit the first shot of the game, a three-pointer, there was little doubt the day would belong to the Bulldogs.
Auburn never saw the lead.
At 3-2, State went on a 14-2 run to go up 17-4.
Bowers had a three and two-point basket. Ignerski made a 10-footer, and Zimmerman followed with another 14-foot jumper.
Ontario Harper's bucket and the foul shot completed the initial run that left Auburn down 13 at the 13:35-mark of the first half.
State had a four-minute stretch where the offense went sour. Austin had three turnovers in that span and would finish the half with no points and just two rebounds.
Auburn got to within 20-11, with 9:37 left in the half, but the visitors could not come any closer.
Following a media timeout at the 7:57 mark, State broke loose on a 10-2 spurt to go up 30-13. Bowers' three-pointer, State's fifth of the half, capped the run.
The Bulldogs made 6-of-11 shots from behind the arc in the first half, and they took a 33-17 lead into the break.
The Bulldogs became more patient in the second half, making the extra pass. The patience was rewarded with knockdown baskets from Harper and another three-pointer from Zimmerman.
Austin began to find some openings scoring a pair of baskets in between a pair of dunks by Zimmerman and Bowers. The latter slam by Bowers came on a perfectly executed alley-oop pass from Zimmerman that made it 48-24, with 11:33 left.
Austin's bucket followed by one from Winsome Frazier handed State its largest lead at 52-24, with 9:24 left.
Six minutes later, State was still enjoying a 20-point lead and Auburn was stuck at 35 points.
Auburn shot just 36.4 percent (20-of-55) for the game. Marquis Daniels, who is one of the SEC's top scorers, had 14 points. He was joined at 14 by Marco Killingsworth.
Ignerski finished with 12; Harper had nine; and Austin chipped in eight.
